Reading Railroad Massacre
Reading, Berks County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
In 1877, amidst hard times, unrest hit U.S. rail lines. Workers for the Reading Railroad had endured pay cuts. Here, on July 23, militia fired into an unarmed crowd that blocked the trains, and 10 people were killed. U.S. troops reopened the railroad.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
The economic depression of the 1870s brought wage cuts and rising anger across America's railroads, and in July 1877 that anger erupted into the nation's first great national strike. In Reading, workers whose pay had been slashed blocked the tracks, and on July 23 militia fired into the unarmed crowd, killing ten people before federal troops moved in to reopen the line. The bloodshed here was one episode in a wave of upheaval that swept the country's rail network that summer.
Why it matters
The 1877 railroad strikes were the first nationwide labor uprising in U.S. history, exposing the deep tensions of industrialization and reshaping how governments responded to organized labor.
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Related events
- · Great Railroad Strike of 1877
Themes & tags
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